This application is based on and claims the priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 of German Patent Application 100 08 259.9, filed on Feb. 23, 2000, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The invention relates to an aircraft passenger cabin structure equipped with facilities for optimizing the number of passengers that can be transported on a given cabin floor space in commercial passenger aircraft.
Conventionally, passengers must sit on special passenger seats in commercial passenger aircraft. At least during the starting and landing phase of an aircraft, passengers must be seated and tied down by safety belts in order to assure a sufficient safety in case of a crash or a rough landing. Even during cruising flight it is desirable that passengers remain in their seats due to the limited space available in aircraft aisles and service facilities such as toilets. Furthermore, when an aircraft during flight must pass through a turbulent weather condition, passengers are more quickly secured in their seats if they are already sitting in their seats. Thus, it is essential for the comfort of a passenger that the aircraft seats within the cabin are secured to the cabin floor with a sufficient spacing from one row of seats to the next and that each seat provides a comfortable seat width in the direction perpendicularly to the flight direction.
However, requiring that all passengers should be seated at all times does not result in a most efficient space utilization within the aircraft cabin. Thus, it is the aim of airlines to maximize the number of passengers relative to an available cabin floor space in order to minimize the transport costs per passenger. The requirement of an optimal comfort and safety for the passengers is not necessarily compatible with a second requirement of maximizing the number of passengers per available cabin floor space to minimize costs. Thus, a compromise solution is required. Such a compromise leads to optimally utilizing the available cabin floor space for each passenger in such a way that the space allocated for each passenger is sufficient while selling that space or seat for a justifiable price is possible. U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,503 discloses an example of an involved calculating method for developing seating configurations or cabin layouts in the passenger cabin of a commercial aircraft, whereby the calculations aim at optimizing the comfort under varying conditions such as changing occupancy rates while simultaneously maximizing the number of passenger seats per available floor space. That seating row and column configuration which provides the highest passenger comfort is then installed in the passenger cabin.
German Patent Publication DE 195 34 024 C2 discloses a seating group or row of seats for a passenger cabin of an aircraft. The width of the individual seats can be widened when a passenger takes up a seat. When the seats are not used the seats can be narrowed, thereby to at least temporarily provide for a wider aisle and to provide more comfort for passengers who occupy a widened seat next to a narrowed seat which is not occupied. Please see also U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,836 (Schumacher et al.) corresponding to the above German Patent DE 195 34 024 C2.
Conventional seating arrangements in passenger cabins of aircraft are all based on passenger sizes which require a minimal seat width in the direction perpendicularly to a longitudinal aircraft axis or flight direction and which require a minimal spacing between rows of seats in the direction of the longitudinal aircraft axis. These requirements permit calculating the maximum number of passenger seats for any given floor space in a passenger cabin. Only in those instances where not all seats have been sold for a particular flight, is it possible to widen the individual passenger seats for at least some passengers to thereby increase their comfort.
German Patent Publication DE 198 14 548 discloses an effort to reduce the space provided per passenger in passenger ground transportation vehicles such as buses, railroad cars or ferries. Seating supports are mounted in a frame structure, whereby the seat dimension in the facing direction of a user is relatively short. The backrest is an elastic flat component also secured to the frame structure. The backrest thus forms an elastic impact protection for a passenger seated in a row of seats behind a given row of seats. Such an arrangement is legally not permitted in an aircraft due to governmental safety regulations which are so strict that passengers in an aircraft, as opposed to passengers in ground transportation vehicles, must be seated in special aircraft seats capable of taking up defined accelerations in the horizontal and vertical directions. Moreover, aircraft seating arrangements must be capable of absorbing energy in case of a crash. Under conventional transport conditions it is not possible to transport aircraft passengers in a standing room fashion which has, for example, been possible for a long time in buses, rail vehicles and ferries.
In view of the foregoing it is the aim of the invention to provide the following objects singly or in combination:
to minimize the space required for transporting a passenger in an aircraft cabin to thereby maximize the number of passengers for any given cabin floor space;
an optimal comfort shall be provided in combination with a maximum floor space utilization in an aircraft cabin while still providing a sufficient mobility for the aircraft passengers;
to satisfy the legal safety regulations for aircraft passengers in case of a crash and during turbulent flights;
to facilitate the boarding and deplaning of a passenger aircraft;
to provide passenger stands in a standing room area of a passenger aircraft whereby such stands shall be adaptable to passengers of different sizes; and
to make passenger seat tickets less expensive, particularly if two tickets are time shared tickets with a passenger stand and a passenger seat so that one of two persons can use the seat while the other person uses the stand and vice versa.
A passenger aircraft according to the invention comprises a cabin structure which is equipped with a standing room area having a clearance between floor and ceiling sufficient for passenger stands installed in the standing room area for transporting passengers in a standing position during starting, during flight, and during landing of the aircraft in the gravity field of the earth. Each passenger stand is equipped with at least one passenger backing for taking up accelerations to which a passenger may be exposed, including horizontal and/or vertical accelerations. Each stand is further equipped with a safety device, more specifically a safety belt, preferably a so-called three-point safety belt system.
A passenger standing in a passenger aircraft is exposed to a gravity gradient of the earths gravity that extends substantially in the direction from head to toe of the passenger. The term xe2x80x9csubstantiallyxe2x80x9d is intended to take into account the attitude angle of the aircraft during starting and landing.
The invention provides a completely new transport concept for the floor space utilization in aircraft passenger cabins by using passenger stands in a standing room area of passenger aircraft, whereby the space requirements per passenger can be minimized and accordingly, the total number of passengers that can be transported is maximized. Each passenger stand is provided with a passenger backing mounted to at least one upright post and the backing or the stand is equipped with a safety device so that the required safety requirements are satisfied at all times including during starting and landing of an aircraft and during turbulent flights, even if the passengers are secured in an upright position. The safety device and the backing combine to hold the standing passenger in place.
By combining seating arrangements with passenger stands on the available floor space of a passenger cabin, the cabin layout is flexibly adaptable to various requirements and an optimal space utilization within the cabin is achieved.
A plurality of passenger stands may be arranged in the standing room area of the cabin in rows and columns, whereby passengers do not have to come out of their seats for deplaning or can readily assume their stands to thereby speed up the boarding procedure.
By preferably arranging the passenger backing in the stand so that the passenger using the stand faces substantially opposite to the flight direction, the safety is increased because forces that occur during a crash or rough landing force the passenger against the backing with his back over a large surface area, whereby the risk of injury is reduced because the loads per body surface area unit of the passengers"" body are reduced.
By providing two upright posts the passenger backing can be arranged between these upright posts and any safety belts may be secured either to the posts or to the backing, whereby the safety is even increased, compared to the safety provided by conventional seating arrangements. Further, by using one post for mounting the backing the angular position of the backing relative to the flight direction is easily adjusted. Such adjustment is also possible where two posts are used to which the backing is secured by adjustable brackets.
By providing the passenger stand with an auxiliary seat support, the passenger stands can be used for prolonged periods of time because a passenger may rest his or her legs while resting on an auxiliary seat secured to the backing or the post or posts.